FB: Mean Green 2018 Football Schedule is Set

Kick-off times along with television coverage has been set for almost all of Conference USA member school contests. North Texas will have all but one game “televised,” the either through traditional television broadcasts or some sort of streaming service. North Texas will have games broadcast by CBS Sports Network, SEC Network Alternate, beIN Sports, ESPN+, ESPN3 and Stadium. Three games, including the season finale against division rival UTSA in San Antonio, TX, will be streamed through the new ESPN+ service.

A common complaint among North Texas fans is a “scheduling conflict” between the Red River Rivalry that is played early October down at the Fairgrounds in Dallas, TX and a home game at Apogee Stadium in Denton, TX on the same weekend. This year North Texas will be playing an away game at 6:30 PM Central time in El Paso, TX. The kick-off for the Texas/Oklahoma game has not been set at the time this post had been published although this is typically an afternoon kick-off.

This year homecoming is slated for October 27th against the Rice Owls.

Date

Opponent

Time (CT)

Network

Sept. 1

vs. SMU

6:30 p.m.

Stadium

Sept. 8

vs. Incarnate Word

6:30 p.m.

ESPN+

Sept. 15

at Arkansas

3:00 p.m.

SEC Network Alt.

Sept. 29

vs. Louisiana Tech

6:30 p.m.

beIN

Oct. 6

at UTEP

6:30 p.m.

beIN

Oct. 13

vs. Southern Miss

1:00 p.m.

ESPN3

Oct. 20

at UAB

6:30 p.m.

beIN

Oct. 27

vs. Rice (HC)

3:00 p.m.

ESPN+

Nov. 10

at Old Dominion

2:30 p.m.

ESPN3

Nov. 15

vs. Florida Atlantic

8:30 p.m.

CBSSN

Nov. 24

at UT San Antonio

6:00 p.m.

ESPN+

What is ESPN+?

ESPN+ is a new streaming service that was introduced earlier this year that serves as an additional medium to serve sports fans additional content. Costs are $4.99/month or $49.99/year. Unfortunately, a subscriber to ESPN+ won’t have access to the cable service channels without a valid cable subscription and vice-versa.

Chances are ESPN won’t even bring in their own crews and equipment to produce the game, meaning member schools in Conference USA who choose to not invest in the appropriate infrastructure to produce a decent televised experience will cause other member school fans to suffer. The broadcast crew likely be handled by local talent provided by the home team.

ESPN+ is taking the place of CUSA.tv. In the complete conference broadcast schedule, no games are shown as being broadcast by the conference’s digital content service. For someone who only watches games centered around only their individual favorite school, this may not be a worthwhile expense however if you are someone who enjoys watching games for any C-USA school, the cost is the same as the original CUSA.tv service.